"Are we to stay there?"

"Half an hour'll be long enough; if they don't show theirselves by then
we'll know there's nothin' to be feared from that quarter."

Fred repeated to Sam what Donovan had said, and the orders were not
received in a cheerful spirit.

"That's all you get for bein' scared. It ain't any joke to travel
through the lower level, an' we can count on stayin' there till
midnight."

"It's better than being flooded out."

"I'm not so sure of that."

"Then you won't go?"

"Of course I will. Do you think I'm such a fool as to act dead against
orders. Come on, an' let's get through with it as soon as possible."

By using an empty car, allowing it to run down the grade by its own
weight, they were soon at the heavy doors which marked the termination
of the first level. Here a halt was made, because even the boys whose
duties it was to open the barriers were absent, and from this point the
remainder of the journey was made on foot.

At the lower level five miners were found repairing the pumps, and the
boys were forced once more to tell what had occurred in the village.

"Men what want to work don't go round kickin' up sich a row as this,"
one of the party said, as Fred and Sam passed on. "Give some of that
Billings' crowd a chance an' the slope never'd be opened agin."

"There's a miner who won't join the mob," Fred said.

"Yes; but for every man like that a dozen can be found to fight against
their own interests."

Now the boys no longer walked side by side. Sam led the way, watching
narrowly the lamp in his companion's cap to discover the first signs of
fire-damp, and guarding well the flame which served to show him the
proper course.

"Be careful of your matches," he said warningly. "They may be worth a
good deal before we get back from this wild goose chase."

"How much farther must we go?"

"Half an hour of fast traveling should bring us to where you found the
tunnel choked with coal, an' I don't reckon you count on tryin' to get
any farther."

"We couldn't do it, no matter how much we might want to."

"Oh, yes; when the doors are opened that pile will come down mighty
quick; but while it stays as it is the passage is blocked better than if
a dozen men were on guard."

Another time of silence, during which the boys walked rapidly, and then
Sam uttered an exclamation of surprise.

"Some one has been working here. Half the coal is pulled away, an' it
won't be much of a job to ge